Thursday, October 29, 2015

Halloween Week: The Stalking Bread

Migrant workers are appealing to Justin Trudeau to change the rules so they aren’t tied to a single employer if they want to stay in Canada.

Ministers in the Quebec government are looking to Trudeau to pressure the Saudi Arabian government to release jailed blogger Raif Badawi before it resumes flogging him under a sentence imposed last January.

Tima Kurdi, the aunt of Alan Kurdi, the little boy whose drowned body washed up on a Turkish beach, wants Trudeau to intervene on behalf of Alan’s father, Abdullah, so he can come to Canada.

Postal workers want Trudeau to quickly signal his intent to block the
roll-out of community boxes, so that one-third of the population can
continue receiving door-to-door mail service at a loss of $250 million a
year.

The local NDP member for Windsor is hoping
Trudeau will look more kindly on local projects the Harper government
let slide: a bike path on the new Gordie Howe bridge, a new park on
Ojibway lands, and perhaps another look at liberalizing laws that
restrict betting on sports.

Trudeau hasn’t appointed a single cabinet minister yet, or moved into
his new residence at Rideau cottage, and already he has become the Great
Benefactor, the bright new hope for causes across the country that felt
themselves stymied by the outgoing Conservatives. Even his new home
results from an early call on his promised sunny ways: the National
Capital Commission is hoping he’ll agree to accept the “cottage” – which
isn’t a cottage at all but a 22-room heritage site built in 1867 and
renovated in 2013 – in place of 24 Sussex Drive so badly-needed repairs
can be made to the official residence.

Online jihadists are reacting with “elation and a sense of triumph at
a perceived defeat of Canada” over last week’s election results as they
anticipate the Liberals’ promised end to airstrikes in Iraq and Syria,
says a report released Thursday.

The Middle East Media Research Institute study
said “known jihadists” and supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant were rejoicing at the election of a government committed to
halting Canada’s involvement in the international air coalition.

“The reactions generally expressed joy and displayed a triumphalist
outlook at this development, including statements such as ‘Canada runs
away’ and referring to it as ‘the crumbling of the Crusader alliance,’”
said Elliot Zweig, the report’s author.

Nearly
half of Canadians feel Canada’s diplomatic influence on the world stage
has waned over the past decade of Conservative rule, says a survey
released hours ahead of a leaders’ debate on foreign affairs issues.

Yet
on most high-profile international issues, incumbent Prime Minister
Stephen Harper is viewed as the best suited to represent Canada.

Just hours after
the release of a report that warns the partial sale of Hydro One will
have a negative impact on Ontario's budget balance, the
utility announced Thursday it's putting millions of its shares on
financial markets.

In a written statement, Hydro One says it will issue more than 81 million shares next Thursday at $20.50 a share.

China will ease family planning
restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of a
strict one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party said on Thursday, a
move aimed at alleviating demographic strains on the economy.

The policy is a major liberalization of the country's
family planning restrictions, already eased in late 2013 when Beijing
said it would allow more families to have two children when the parents
met certain conditions.

A growing number of scholars had urged the government
to reform the rules, introduced in the late 1970s to prevent population
growth spiraling out of control, but now regarded as outdated and
responsible for shrinking China's labor pool.

For the first time in decades the working age
population fell in 2012, and China, the world's most populous nation,
could be the first country in the world to get old before it gets rich.

By around the middle of this century, one in every
three Chinese is forecast to be over 60, with a dwindling proportion of
working adults to support them.

The announcement was made at the close of a key Party
meeting focused on financial reforms and maintaining growth between 2016
and 2020 amid concerns over the country's slowing economy.

China will "fully implement a policy of allowing each
couple to have two children as an active response to an ageing
population", the party said in a statement carried by the official
Xinhua news agency.

There were no immediate details on the new policy or a time-frame for implementation.

Kim Jong-un has visited a new science and technology centre in the North Korean capital Pyongyang.

The North Korean leader declared the new complex would show the world
the desire and passion of the North Korean army and people to become
well versed in science and technology.

Kim toured the complex with General Hwang Pyong-so and Premiere Pak Pong-ju.

The atom-shaped centre on the Ssuk islet by the river Taedong includes
an earthquake experience room, virtual science laboratory and reading
areas and is a reminder of North Korea's defiance amid concerns about
its nuclear weapons programme.

The purpose of the energy conserving compound is to allow visitors to
"deeply grasp the principles and methods of science and technology,"
according to KCNA, North Korea's official news agency.

Last month Pyongyang said its main nuclear complex is fully operational and the country is ready to face US hostility with nuclear weapons "at any time".

Snickers

You have a multi-faceted personality. You don't fit
into a box! You like lots of things and you don't care if they match or
if they don't. Sometimes people might think that makes you mysterious or
complicated, but you're just your own person. You like travel and
reading just as much as you like sitting in front of the TV and watching
sports. It's all about balance.